Blog #1: Six-Word Memoir (Who Knew This Would Be So Hard!)

From fear to self-acceptance and laughter. 

The top picture of me when I'm seventeen. That's Duane, my first boyfriend ever, and despite the full beard, he is only 20. I don't know what's happening there, but I do look like a deer in headlights, and I'm holding his hand in a death grip. That's pretty much the story of the first half of my life, fear of failure or rejection and hyper-seriousness in all areas. I suppose I laughed sometimes, but never at myself. I started getting stress migraines when I was six. Ironically, I was good at pretty much everything, and I didn't do the things I wasn't good at. 

The second picture is me last spring, and oh, that's Duane, my husband. We are a lot older, but apparently I have learned to laugh--including at myself. I don't get migraines, and in general I am less afraid of rejection and failure. This may be a life-long journey, but in many ways it started with the silly guy holding the balloons. It's not a birthday without balloons for him, and that's sort of the story of my life. He accepts me and encourages me to take risks, like water skiing and paddle boarding, traveling to Africa, and quitting my job and going to grad school.  He is also crazy silly, which has taught me to accept myself and my failures and basically to laugh at all kinds of things.

So . . . that's basically it for your introductory post: A six-word memoir, with a backstory. 

It was a lot harder than I thought. I mean, I had to decide what part of my life I wanted to share. This is how you'll see me. Since you don't actually know me, this is all you know. It's my identity untill you know me more. I anguished about this a little bit, but then I let it go. (You know, Elsa, blah, blah.)

And then I had to take these complex ideas and condense them into six words. SIX WORDS! That's nothing. As you will learn, I am very verbose. I say something, and then I repeat myself and make it clearer. A couple of times. 

Your turn.